Solar Viewing
At Chabot in the light of day we bring out
Sunspotters, a Coronado Hydrogen Alpha telescope,
and now a newly donated Coronado Calcium-K filter solar
scope. Each of these scopes gives us a
different view of the Sun, allowing our visitors to
explore different solar features.
Views of the Sun through these scopes are available
most Saturdays and Sundays, weather permitting.
The Sunspotter
 
The "safe solar viewing" SunspotterÒ
telescope reveals any
sunspots that may be crossing the Sun's photosphere
(visible surface) on a given day. Sunspots are
magnetic disturbances on the Sun, quite often as big
as the planet Earth--and can get much larger than
that!
The Hydrogen Alpha Filter Telescope
 
Through this special telescope, which filters out
all of the Sun's light except for a special
wavelength of red that emitted by hot hydrogen, we
are able to view features in the Sun's
atmosphere--features such as filaments and
prominences: cooler gases in the Sun's
atmosphere that might be thought of as "clouds" on
the Sun. These "clouds," however, are much
larger than the Earth and made of hot hydrogen gas.
The Calcium-K Filter Telescope
 
Another telescope with a special filter allows us to
see the Sun only in the blue light emitted by hot
calcium, revealing surface hot spots in a similar
way to how a Sunspotter reveals the cooler locales
of sunspots.
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